New program covers gap times when students not in school

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and Lawrence Public Schools have a long history of collaboration to promote the mental wellbeing of students.

A shining example is the WRAP program. WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) is an in-school therapy program that was started in 1997 and continues to thrive today. WRAP is a groundbreaking program where the Bert Nash Center — in partnership with Lawrence Public Schools and other Douglas County schools — assigns a master’s-level clinician to a school to work collaboratively with the school’s mental health professionals to help with the behavioral, emotional and psychological problems students can have.

The newest partnership example between Bert Nash Center and Douglas County schools, called Building Bridges, is a community-based case management program that will provide mental health supports when students are not in school.

“This partnership came about because of kids’ and parents’ increased mental health needs,” said Bert Nash Center COO Stephen O’Neill. “It’s a very collaborative effort.”

“Over the last couple of years our relationship with Bert Nash has really improved and developed,” said Kevin Harrell, executive director of student services and special education for Lawrence Public Schools. “In looking at the WRAP program and how it supports students, that support stopped at 3:30 when school got out. Then, when Covid hit, we saw students having issues and more parents reaching out about what we could do to support students when they weren’t in a school setting.”

Jose Cornejo, mental health facilitator for Lawrence Public Schools, said, “We’ve always talked about the gap between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. We have opportunities and programs for our kids during the school day. So how do we support them when school is out?”

The issue of how to support students when school is not in session has long been a concern and has only been intensified due to challenges and hardships created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The issues were always there, but now with Covid, we’re all dealing with it together,” Harrell said. “This new program is really about how we can support students all day, year-round.”

“A lot of this had to do with our ongoing communication with Judi Rodman (former Bert Nash Center Child and Family Services director), and at the building level talking with our teams and the WRAP specialists about how to support students in the home,” Cornejo said. “We want to help families get connected to support systems to help them manage and navigate whatever stressors are impacting their family and to build skillsets to help students advocate on their own behalf with teachers and others in the community.”

The case management and parent support services will be available to students and families from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the setting that best serves the student and the family. The expanded support services will enhance the cross-collaboration that is already happening between school Care Teams, WRAP specialists, educators and building administrators.

Utilizing about $250,000 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds through Douglas County will help launch the new program. The community-based case management team will include two team managers, six case managers and two parent support specialists.

“We knew Cares Act money was coming and the County would be responsible for identifying and allocating those dollars,” said County Commission Chair Patrick Kelly. “Our thinking was, there are a ton of needs out there. And one population that’s not going to speak up for their needs is usually kids and parents and vulnerable families. It was important for us to do that work on their behalf. This seemed like a way, and because it’s Bert Nash and because Bert Nash serves the entire county, it seemed like this was an after-hours care model that could last well beyond this.”

“When this opportunity came along with the CARES funding, we reached out to the Bert Nash Center and said here’s a chance to fill that gap with community-based case management,” Cornejo said. “The idea is to have complete, wraparound-type integrated services.”

“It is an expansion of the community-based services that we already provide for adults and children,” Bert Nash Center COO O’Neill said. “We’ll provide support with this funding through the end of the year, at which time our hope will be to sustain the ongoing operations of the program through fee-for-service revenue, and through Medicaid and other insurance.”

County Commission Chair Kelly also looked at the case management program through the lens of an educator and an administrator. In addition to chairing the County Commission, he is executive director of curriculum and instruction for Lawrence Public Schools.

“Because of the pandemic, there were some real concerns raised among teachers and administrators about students we couldn’t get a hold of, for whatever reason,” Kelly said. “And when we did track them down, for a wide variety of reasons they had disengaged … struggling with mental health issues or struggling with COVID-19 in general, or they didn’t have Internet access. We were putting a lot on our counselors and our social workers to provide service after hours. They were wearing themselves out.

“That gap when school is not in session has always existed, but with the pandemic, it was amplified. A lot of those kids had access to services and supports when they were in the building,” Kelly said. “That support just suddenly went away in March. If you don’t have the Internet at home, how do you know that food is available? How do reach out and ask if people need help? One of the things I really like about the program that Bert Nash put together is that it has parent support as well, because we’re asking a lot of our parents right now, a lot of our teachers, a lot of our community.”

The new community-based case management project is a countywide program that encompasses all four school districts in the county: Lawrence, Baldwin, Eudora and Perry-Lecompton.

“This is really about getting core mental health services to children and families in Douglas County that need them,” O’Neill said.

“This initiative is really about meeting students where they are,” said Steve Splichal, Superintendent of Eudora Schools and a member of the Bert Nash Center Governing Board. “It provides an invaluable resource to our communities outside of the ‘normal business’ day schedule. Students and families have timely support when they need it most.”